Thank you very much.
Thank you.
One.
I think we have a couple on the back there.
On our front cover of the bulletin we have our verse of the week.
It's Lamentations 3.22 and 23.
It says,
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because
His compassion fails not.
They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness.
Great.
Couple scriptures there.
Our first message is on our side page.
It's called the spiritual and spiritual message.
It's a special message that I'm encouraging.
On our inside page there, we have a short message from me.
If you have any questions or just want to talk to me about
anything spiritual or you have any concerns or needs, please
come talk to me after the service.
We do use the WhatsApp app for coordinating the soul wanting
times.
Currently the only soul wanting time is I think Sundays.
Right?
Or do you guys have a second one that you're doing right now?
The Sunday between services between our spiritual and spiritual
It's a Sunday between services between, so I think it's like at 1.15, we're a family
integrated church.
That means the children and infants are welcomed during the church services, but please, if
you have a really distracting or disruptive child, just take them to the mother-baby room.
We only have a mother-baby room, no dad-baby room.
And by the way, all the video equipment and things that we need for that room, we're going
to be hooked up on the 25th, the weekend of the 25th of this month, yeah, the 25th.
So brother Josh will be up here to preach.
I had to switch brother Josh and brother Sean weekend, so, well for, yeah, I had to switch
them weekend.
So brother Josh Tapp is going to be here at the end of the month, brother Sean Harrington
is going to be here on the 20th.
I think that's in the bulletin there too.
So please silence your cell phones if you would at this time, please.
And if you need any assistance from the ushers for any reason, please don't hesitate to ask.
And right now we're just donating at the church building.
We're not, we don't have online donations set up yet.
So that's something that's going to come in the future and it looks like we have 65 salvations
for the year.
So praise the Lord for that.
And you can see the ties that came in for July.
And then the August is just, we're just one weekend, but the Wednesday services upcoming
today I'm preaching then brother Rick, brother Cody, brother Daniel Baker.
So I'll be back in September to preach again.
So Sundays we have on August 13th is brother Robert Larson.
And then, like I said, brother Tapp's getting switched to the end of the month and brother
Sean Harrington's going to be here on the 20th.
So just like a scheduling issue there.
So and then the main upcoming events we have that are just kind of like a movement wide
thing or the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at Steadfast Baptist Church.
That's in Cedar Hill, Texas, I believe now, which is close to Dallas Fort Worth.
And then Faithful Word Baptist Church Missions Conference, which is a great conference to
go to if you've never gone to a missions conference, that is a excellent conference
to go to.
It's been three years since they had it.
So it's going to be great.
And actually, I'm going to be there preaching on the, I'm not sure what night I'm preaching
or what day I'm preaching.
But I'm preaching about what's going on in Yakima.
So just all the things that have happened with all the, I mean, not all the things I
guess we don't need all the things to be told, but the good things that have happened, right,
all the people that have been getting saved and just how we have a church here now and
all that good stuff.
So I don't see any birthdays or anniversaries, is there any that should be on here that aren't?
If you have a birthday and it's not in the bulletin that month, please say something
to me, you can message me or you can, I think Miss Alicia is the one that kind of deals
with the bulletin stuff with Miss, good night, yeah, Miss Molly, good night.
All right.
I hope this isn't a sign of things that come where I'm just like, anyway.
All right.
So that's all I have for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing another song.
Brother Cody left.
All right.
Brother Rick, you're up.
289.
Is that what you said?
289.
There's Jesus care.
This is one of Cody's favorite songs, he missed out on this one, brother.
Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth and a song as the burdens
press and the cares distress and the way grows weary and long.
Oh, yes, he cares.
I know he cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
On the second.
Does Jesus care when my way is dark with a nameless dread and a fear as a day light faints
into deep night's rage?
Does he care enough to be there?
Oh, yes, he cares.
I know he cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
Let's go to the last.
Does Jesus care when I've said goodbye to the dearest honor to me and my sad heart aches
till it nearly breaks?
Is it ought to him?
Does he see?
Oh, yes, he cares.
I know he cares.
His heart is touched with my grief.
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.
And now Brother Baker is going to come and read James chapter 2 for us, I believe.
My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect
of persons.
For if there come unto you your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel, and
there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the
gay clothing, and saying to him, Sit thou here in a good place, and say to the poor,
Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool, are ye not then partial in yourselves, and
are become judges of evil thoughts?
Eareken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith
and heirs of the kingdom, which He hath promised to them that love Him?
But ye have despised the poor.
Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judge of the seats?
Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which ye are called?
If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself, ye do well.
But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the
law.
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment.
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them,
Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding, give them not those things
which are needful to the body.
What doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead.
Being alone, yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
Thou believeth that there is one God, thou doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar?
Seest thou how faith wrote with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness.
And he was called the friend of God.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Likewise also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers,
and had sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
All right.
So this is off.
One thing we forgot to do is we forgot to take up the offering.
So if they wanted to have an opportunity to give, we'll just do it after the service.
It's fine.
James chapter number two, and it seems like every time I preach it, there's some kind
of something going on with the video camera or the sound or something like that, but we
got it fixed.
So hopefully it stays fixed for the rest of the service.
James 1b is down the memory hole forever and ever.
But we got James the overview on the library there, so if you missed that sermon, you can
go back to it.
So my plan is just to preach through the book of James every time I'm here.
So unfortunately I have a really heavy travel schedule going on right now, but I will be
back next month, early in the month, and preach James chapter number three.
So I'm going to try to get through the whole chapter tonight and not have to go through
a second time here.
So is that still sounding okay?
Can you guys still hear me?
Okay.
So looking down at verse number one, the Bible reads, my brethren have not faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons.
And like I said when I did my overview of the book of James, the book of James is like
a book of Proverbs almost for the New Testament.
There's a lot of wise sayings in here, a lot of wisdom.
Of course the book of Proverbs still applies to us in the New Testament.
A lot of times you'll see people hand out psalms with Proverbs and the New Testament
together, because we are still commanded to sing the psalms in the New Testament, and
the Proverbs are a daily book of wisdom that obviously there's 31 days in some months,
and most months have either 30 or 31, but it kind of works out perfect if you read a
Proverb or a day, give yourself some wisdom.
But the book of James also is great wisdom for people in the New Testament.
And when it says, so number one tonight I just want to preach about the sin of partiality
or being a respecter of persons.
And so what is being a respecter of persons?
It's basically exactly how it explains it when we go through the scenario here in just
a second.
Respected persons is when you're, just like the scenario, let's look at the scenario here.
Verse number two, it says, for if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring
and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment, and you have respect
to him that weareth the gay clothing, that's not talking about homosexual clothing, gay
meant happy, and it still does, but they just kind of hijack that word.
So it's just talking about like, you know, good clothing or nice fine apparel.
It's kind of like, you know, like apparel that rich people would wear.
Like most people, you know, we, we dress nice for church, but you know, it's not, we're
not wearing Armani suits and, you know, designer clothing basically.
So I think that's kind of what it's alluding to there.
And then it says, and you say unto him, sit thou here in a good place and say to the poor,
stand out there or sit here under my footstool.
You're basically treating the poor works because they don't have on a nice clothing.
You're treating rich people that come into the church really nice because you want them
to stay and be tithing or whatever, or you just, you know, some people just, when they
see someone that isn't dressed as well or whatever, they just automatically would, would
say, Hey, that person's probably not a good person or, you know, they just have a problem
with them.
And you notice a lot of rich people, they kind of have this attitude.
If you're not like them, then, you know, have you ever heard that term pointy, pointy?
They're a little just good for everybody else.
And you know, and if you're rich and you have money, that's great.
You know, but Bible says if you're a saved person, then you're not supposed to treat
people differently based upon what income they have, how they look, what skin color
they have.
Or, you know, being a respected person is you like somebody better for whatever reason
you have, but that's not a good attribute to have, is it?
So, and then it says, if you have respect in the worth of gay clothing, it's saying
to him, sit down here in a good place.
So you're like saying basically the rich person can come up here and then that poor
person can be their footstool.
Everybody knows what a footstool is, right?
It's like just a little stool you rest your feet on.
And you're just like, basically, it's just saying you're just treating them lower than
they already are in society.
So verse four says, are you not then partial in yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts?
So I guess, you know, so I guess I'm on the right track here because, you know, basically
you're saying that person's poor and dressed poorly.
So you think that they're a bad person.
So, cause it says, are you become, you become partial in yourselves and become judges of
evil thoughts.
And we're not supposed to be like that.
Harken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith
and heirs of the kingdom, which he hath promised to them that love him?
And yeah, and Jesus said, he went out to preach to the poor.
Those are the people we're supposed to go and reach first.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Now it doesn't mean we're not supposed to go out and reach out to the rich.
We are in the middle class and any other class you want to kind of put in there.
But the poor are usually rich in faith.
They're easier to get saved.
You probably noticed that when you're out sowing, you out knock on doors in a poor neighborhood
or in a ghetto area, as they would call it, then you're going to get a lot more people
saved because they might be poor, but their faith needs to come.
And obviously there's a lot of poor people that reject the gospel too.
I'm just saying the numbers, when you look at the numbers purely in sowing,
you're going to get better fruit.
And maybe they've only become a church, but at least they're saved.
Churches get this wicked idea in their minds that if someone didn't come to church and got saved,
then they didn't really get saved.
Or if they didn't come to get baptized and join the church, they didn't really get saved.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
I mean, Jesus only had 126 people in his church after he rose from the dead and went back to heaven
out of the thousands that he had saved, only 126 people in church.
And it was his mom, his brothers and sisters, the 11 apostles that were left and probably,
you know, the 70 other apostles that he ordained.
And so, I mean, you can't judge whether someone's saved based upon whether they came to church
or not, because some people, you know, they, maybe they're in a different type of church
and they've been praying that that person gets saved for a long time.
And they're like, oh, you got saved.
That's great.
Why don't you come to my church?
So, I mean, it's just all these scenarios that can happen.
And sometimes people, whatever reason they're, you know, get saved, but they're not motivated
to work for the Lord or motivated to just do, talk about that later.
But here in verse number five, the Bible says,
Hark, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith,
and heirs of the kingdom, which had promised them to them that love him.
You have despised the poor.
Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before judgment seats?
And, you know, so he's just kind of appealing to like, hey,
why would you respect people more that are the same types of people that will draw you
to judgment seats to have you, you know, and this is probably concerning like you
owing a debt that you can't pay and they're drawing you before, you know, the law to try
to get to you for every last nickel or whatever.
And, you know, also draw you before the judgment seats because rich men
and rich women have power because they have money.
You know, your court, the court systems that we have in this world, if you're rich,
a lot of times you get off of the charges.
I mean, even murderers get set free because they can pay for a lawyer that's powerhouse.
I'm sure a lot of people in here, the young, younger people might not remember O.J. Simpson
and the trial that happened, does anybody, I got some older folks here that I watched
the Bronco getting chased through LA and all that stuff.
And O.J. Simpson got off because he had money and probably because they were afraid
that the whole city was going to get burned down.
And that's what was going to happen probably.
So, and I think it did end up happening.
It was, you know, when I think when he got sued and then he lost, I think he, you know,
I think there was riots over that and things like that.
But again, we shouldn't be judging people based upon the color of their skin.
I mean, even Marxist Lucifer King.
I mean, Martin Luther King, he said, you know, people should be judged by the content
of their character and not the color of their skin.
You know, it'd be nice if there was a day like that.
Right.
And but that's not what we see happening today.
Now it's if you're white, you're bad, you're the devil or whatever.
And it's just like, why can't we just stop looking at people's skin color?
Like that has anything to do with anything.
It really is a pigment of your skin.
I mean, it's just weird for people to be racist.
But this is what happens when rich men are controlling things.
I mean, there's there's a lot of there's a lot of things that are going on our world
and it's this world is controlled.
And so to respect someone is because they're rich or just because they're a movie star
or they're a pop star.
It's like Christians get all, you know, slobbery over these, these people that are quasi just
mentoring Jesus.
They're like, well, you know, Nick Cage, Nicholas Cage, he did the Left Behind movie.
And, you know, he's so great or whatever.
And it's just like, he did it for money.
Do you think that Nicholas Cage is a Christian?
I mean, honestly, and he's not.
Okay.
He's not a Christian.
But we just, you know, we just have this weird thing where we grow up in this American culture
where people idolize musicians and rock stars and rap stars and pop stars and, you know,
people that are in movies.
And these are the same type of people that hate your guts and hate your God.
And they have nothing to do with Christ.
And then yet, Christian, it's like when Robin Williams killed himself or whatever, and all
the Christians were just like, oh, poor Robin Williams or whatever, you know, I mean, Robin
Williams, you know, he probably killed himself because he's probably did some really bad
stuff.
I mean, that's what I would assume.
Or he, you know, people say, well, he was just really depressed and comics are always
depressed.
Well, I guess that's true, but I haven't seen very many comics that killed themselves.
So maybe I'm wrong about that.
But anyway, the point is here is that, you know, rich men are the ones that are oppressing
you.
Rich men are the ones that are drawing people to be smooth and to the judgment seats.
Why would you treat them better than you would treat other people based upon how much
money they have?
That's partiality.
That is respect of persons.
And it says, do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?
So again, these are the same people that are out blaspheming our God.
You know, why would you respect like if Brad Pitt was standing there and then Joe Schmo
is there, who are you going to go try to see first?
Like, in our minds, we were like, oh, I'd like to shake Brad Pitt's hand or whatever,
because he's just famous.
You're like, who's Brad Pitt?
Well, he's a movie star.
Okay, in case you didn't know that.
But anyway, so that's just not something that we, you know, it's given a great example
here of rich versus poor, respecting people because they're rich and despising people
that are poor.
And they're the ones that blaspheme our God.
They're the ones that oppress us.
They're the ones that draw us before the judgment seats.
And it says, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, thou shall love
thy neighbor as thyself, you do well.
So we're supposed to love our neighbor, not just the rich people, right?
But if you have respected persons, look what it says there.
What's it say there?
The next three words, ye commit sin, right?
So is it a sin to be a respecter of persons?
Yes, it is.
That's what the Bible says.
And are convinced of the law as transgressors.
So it's not just, you know, some man's law or some law that's written, you know, at a
school or because there's all kinds of rules and laws in our world.
But there's a difference between breaking God's laws and breaking man's laws.
Man's laws are not God's laws.
Yes, we're supposed to not despise government.
And, you know, but if you take that as face value, what is government?
It's people that kind of just rule over you in some capacity.
It could be, you know, you're, you know, somebody that, you know, a governor, the governor of
this state is, you know, a piece of trash, in my opinion.
But I respect the office, I guess, of governor, but I don't respect him at all.
So just like John the Baptist didn't respect Herod at all and preached against his adultery.
So anyway, but we, you know, it's a sin, the Bible says, to have respect to persons.
And when you break God's law, you're breaking his commandments and you're sinning.
So, and according to James chapter two, verse nine, it says that if you respect persons,
you are committing sin.
That's not going to help, but thank you.
I'm just going to keep sniffing through this whole sermon because I have the sniffles
and I don't like to blow my nose on camera.
Anyway, turn to Proverbs chapter 24, verse 23.
We'll just back this up with a few scriptures.
So, and there's just a lot of different scenarios that you could put in with this,
but I like how the Bible uses the rich versus the poor.
And it shouldn't be that in our minds.
Maybe there's a rich versus poor in society, but in our minds, if someone walks in here
and they got the best suit ever, and you're just like, oh, come here and sit right here.
And, you know, get over here, Cody, come be his footstool or, you know, just somebody
that you would perceive as lower than that person.
And like, by the way they're dressed or something, it's just weird.
It's just not how we're supposed to, the Bible says, you know, and we're supposed
to be like God in our lives.
We're made in the image of God.
And so what does that mean?
Well, we're not gods as far as like, you know, there's only one God.
Well, the way he is, is the way he wants to be.
So, and especially if you're a Christian, obviously look at Proverbs 24, verse 23.
The Bible says, these things also belong to the wise.
It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.
So you're like in judgment, well, I thought we weren't supposed to judge.
Well, that's what all the non-believers always say to us.
Yes, but actually the Bible says to judge.
It actually does.
Jesus said to judge righteous judgment.
And the Bible's filled with judgment.
There's a book called Judges in case you didn't know that.
Our country has judges in it.
You know, judging is something that you do every day on the freeway.
How far, or just driving around town, you judge how far a car is.
You know, you judge how far that step is that you have to.
I mean, every day we're judging in like almost everything that we do.
So to say we're not supposed to judge is just a false accusation.
We're not supposed to judge as hypocrites.
If you're doing the same thing that you're saying for somebody else not to do,
that's what we're not supposed to do.
But people just say, judge not, you know, and they'll just repeat and repeat and repeat.
And that's what all unbelievers try to say if we try to condemn any sin
or any person that's committing sin.
That's the go-to.
Only God can judge me.
Well, he is.
That's why we're saying it.
You know, the Bible says that's God's word, right?
I mean, but anyway, turn to 1 Peter, chapter 117.
I'll read Colossians 3 25.
Turn to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 17.
I'm turning to, I'm going to read Colossians 3 25.
Colossians 3 25 says,
but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.
And there is no respect of persons.
So when God's looking at us, he doesn't say, I like Mary a lot more than everybody else.
She's so nice.
And you know, but she is nice.
But God doesn't look at it like that.
He looks at us all the same as far as, you know, he loves us.
You know, he cares about us.
And he doesn't, but he doesn't like say, well, she's so nice, but you know,
he stole from the store yesterday.
So just because she's so nice, I'm not going to come down on her.
But Rick, you know, Rick, I just really have a problem with Rick.
You know, just for whatever reason, be ugly or something.
You know, I can't think of a reason why I just don't like him, but I just don't.
And so that's not how God is, right?
He doesn't look at it like that.
He's not like, well, he's kind of my best friend.
He does the most for me.
God, just like when he sees people sin, it's just like,
he's not going to judge it any different.
You know what I mean?
When it comes to what he wants.
Now, First Peter chapter 117 says, and if you call on the father,
who without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work.
But what we do, that's what he judges us by.
Past the time of your sojourning here in fear.
You're like, well, we're supposed to be afraid of God.
Duh, it's God.
You know, were you afraid of your dad when you were growing up to do something wrong?
You know, I watched this young kid who's probably 11 or 12 years old,
tell his mother no when she asked him to go get some towels for the pool.
I'm just like, so she just goes off and gets him to town instead.
While he sits there playing on his phone,
I just want to walk up and just whack that phone right out of his hand.
How disrespectful, but you know, I mean, she had her husband.
But it's just what a disrespected punk, you know?
And you know, it just, that kind of stuff is really irritates me.
We should hear the Lord.
And you know, that kid should learn to fear, you know,
just walk up and smack them and take it on his phone in the poor or something.
And then maybe he would go get the towels like he asked the first time.
This is a lesson for you children too, that are in here.
When your parents ask you to do something, you should do it.
And you should fear your dad.
Obviously you should love your dad and your dad loves you.
Our heavenly father loves us.
And sometimes when we deserve a snack, he gives it to us, but he still loves us.
I mean, we're saved.
So if you're saved, God loves you, but he's not going to respect you
more than he would somebody else just because you're a child of God.
God still punishes his children.
He's never going to throw us in the fire.
He's never going to throw us in hell and he's going to throw other people in hell.
But he doesn't have respect of persons when it comes to judgment.
Now, just thinking about the subject of nepotism, this is something
like I have, you know, my kids and my grandkids go to my church.
Not all, but three of my children go to my own church and their children go to my church.
Now I must treat them the same when it comes to things in church life.
I can't, as a pastor, I can't be a respecter of persons that say, well, no,
that's their seat.
That's where they get to sit because they're my kids or they're my grandkids.
Or, you know, if somebody, one of my kids does a sin that somebody else does,
they're treated the same, you know?
And sometimes people get this idea that like the pastor's kids or their punching bags or something,
or when they do something that they act like pastor's kids are sinless.
Sinless, you know, people think the qualifications of the pastors
or your children have to be good luck with that.
Because all people are, it's not like all have sinned for the glory of God.
And if they sinned, you're disqualified.
It's like, that's not what the Bible says.
It says if they're riotous or unruly, you can't, you know,
there's a difference between riotous and unruly.
You're unable to rule them and control them and all that kind of stuff, right?
A riotous, what is a riot?
Well, you guys have seen all the BLM riots like that happened two years ago, right?
That's rioting.
So just, but if your children sin, every kid sinned.
And it's just like people just get this weird idea that they also
have to know all the pastor's business too.
Like when it comes to their kids, it's just like,
do I need to know all your business too of everything you do at home?
At the church, I'm the pastor.
At home, you're the priest, you're the father, you're the dad.
You know what?
I'm not going to go to your house and tell you how to spank your kids.
I'm not going to go to your house and tell you how to talk to your wife.
You know, if you want to screw up your marriage, then go ahead and screw up your marriage.
I'm just going to preach what the Bible says.
And you know what?
I'm supposed to be impartial in the way that I do that.
So if somebody, if one of my kids needs to hear from the pulpit something that I have to say,
you know, they're going to have to hear it too.
They're there too.
And they should, their children should behave.
They should be behaved just like everybody else in the church is supposed to behave.
But people just get this weird idea that anybody can just scrutinize every single thing
that goes on with the pastor.
And it's just like, it's just a weird concept.
Like that's just not true.
Obviously the pastor is supposed to be an example.
His children, when they live in his home, are supposed to be an example also.
Right.
But, you know, I mean, cause if God says don't be a respecter of persons, but you're like,
except for the pastor's kids, is that what the Bible says?
It's not what the Bible says.
You know, also that would go in serving in the church.
You know, my daughter plays the piano at our church and you know how she became the piano
player?
We had a one-handed piano player when we started our church.
And she couldn't keep tune with the song leader.
And my daughter, the book, pastor Steven Anderson, piano player song book.
And she went through all those books and learned how to play the piano on her own.
And she became our piano player.
Now, because she's my daughter, is that giving her favoritism because she did the hard work
and learned how to play the piano?
I didn't make her do it.
You know, she wanted to do it.
Now I make her do it, but no, I'm just kidding.
But we want other people to be trained in how to play the piano.
You know?
So, and you just learned how to play the piano pretty quick too, right?
So, but, and that's, he used to be pastor of Messler, but now he's brother Rick.
But like, was he giving nepotism because he allowed his daughter to play the piano?
It's like, it goes both ways, folks.
Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
Like, you can't just say, well, the pastor's just letting his kids do all the stuff.
It's just like, I understand where, so nepotism is where you're favoring your children or
your family members over other people.
But if your family, like I believe, you know, in the Old Testament, the priest and their
children served the Lord together.
The family served the Lord together.
Most churches I've gone to, the pastor's children served in some capacity in the church.
Now they don't have to, but if they're willing to, then why shouldn't they be able to serve
just like everybody else?
Because that would be a respecter of persons.
Your kids can't preach because you're the pastor.
That's not true.
I don't believe that.
And I don't care what anybody says.
The Bible says we're not supposed to be respecters of persons one way or the other.
So, you know, I just, and you know, it's funny one time we were like, hey, you know,
you know, and somebody was just joking around and saying something about nepotism, about
my kids being the song leader.
My son is a song leader at our church and my son-in-law is another song leader.
And somebody, a couple of people were just like, oh, you know, you know, just letting
your kids do it.
I was like, well, you guys want to do it?
Let's do a class, you know?
And you know, those people end up not sticking with it.
And you know what?
The people that are faithful in their job or they work hard to try to get it done, they
work hard to be excellent at it.
I'm going to let those people, it doesn't matter
what their last name is, whose kid they are, because I'm not a respecter of persons.
It's that simple.
So if they sin, they must be judged the same way any other church member would be treated
the same exact way.
You can't let them off the hook.
And that's where in the Bible, you see like Eli not rebuking his sons, not making his
sons, I mean, they were just, they were children of the devil.
They weren't even saved.
And you know, he was obviously a terrible parent.
So my kids are all still in church.
They still all serve the Lord.
They still love God.
They're all saved.
So they're not children of Belial.
So, you know, I'm going to let them serve just like I would let anybody else serve.
And if anybody else wants a song leader, like I'm willing to give you a class.
You know, let's do it.
You know, I like that brother Cody's stepped up to do the song leading here and he's not
related to me.
So, but you know what I respect about Cody is that he's willing to do it.
So when people are willing to do the work, my brother Dan is coming up and reading the
Bible, you know, I appreciate people that step up and do the work.
Other Josh back there working on the computer, you know, I appreciate people.
And so I, but I don't re like if they send a great sin, it doesn't mean that I liked
them better.
So I'm going to let them off easy and then punish another person worse.
I mean, I'm really driving this point home, but I just want people to understand that,
you know, some people just like take these things to a weird level, especially like things
where they're like, you know, claiming that things are nepotenistic, you know?
And, you know, I'm not going to make my, I'm not going to make my kids work harder than
other people just because they're my kids.
Isn't that respect as a person?
I mean, I just, that doesn't make sense to me.
So, and you know, if someone, you know, or what if it's a friend of mine, you know, as
the pastor of the church, I don't want people to think, well, that's the pastor's best
friend.
And so he just kind of lets him get away with whatever he wants.
I'm not like that.
And I'm, I'm really black and white when it comes to things.
And I love, you know, maybe there are people that I like better than others.
I think that's just a natural thing that happens with people.
You know, the people that you hang out with the most in doing the work, that's kind of
who I hang out with the most.
I mean, I don't, I don't really, I don't have time to do anything else outside of church
wearing like that anyway.
So, but I, I mean, I just, it goes with friendships.
It goes with other, you know, with who's rich or poor, whose family is not, or just not
supposed to be respecters by a person.
So, you know, I can't give, you know, the special treatment to anybody.
And if I say no to one person about one thing that they asked you, and then I say, oh, I
like this person better.
I'm going to let them do what that person asked.
What does that make me?
I respect their persons.
It makes me a hypocrite.
So like we have this policy at our church and you guys have never, this has never become
a thing, but I'm just going to let you know what it is right now.
Birthday parties at the church.
Long time ago, pastor Mendez told me, he said, you need to have a big church mentality.
So right now we don't have a lot of people in here, but we've got a good size group in
here tonight.
But what if I have, so Daniel Baker has a big history, right?
What if Daniel Baker wanted to have a birthday party at our church on every single one of
his kids' birthdays?
Do you have, are all your kids born on different months or do you have some that are born on
the same month?
Some on the same, how many on the same?
Okay.
So, but the other ones are on different months.
So we could be having a birthday party for Daniel for like, you know, six months out
of the year or, you know, six weeks, excuse me, six weeks out of the year.
Right.
I mean, we just, we can't do that.
And so if somebody wants to have a birthday party, I'm not, I'm going to say no, because
this isn't a birthday party place.
You know, obviously you're like, well, you know, pastor, that's just, you know, what
if our church is running 200 and everybody wants to have birthday parties for their kids?
It's like, I might as well just start a business at that point.
And just say, Hey, it's birthday party Baptist church.
Everybody just, Hey, just come have your birthday parties here.
You understand what I mean?
Like if I say, you know, about one thing I have to like, there's reasons why I make
decisions that I make.
And a lot of it's wisdom that's been passed on to me from other pastors, a lot of failures
on my own part to do what should have been done.
And then me going, okay, I'm never doing that again.
I'm never gonna try that again.
I'm not going to make that decision again, because, you know, you hurt one person's
family.
And then we'll just say there's a family that did like Daniel's family.
He asked me, can I have a birthday party for my kids?
And I explained that to him.
And then Cody's like, I just want to have a birthday party for my wife this next year.
And I tell him no, but I say yes to him because he only has one person that wants to have
a birthday.
Isn't that being a respected person?
So you understand what I'm saying?
So like, there's reasons for doing things.
There's reasons for making a blanket rule on everything.
You're like, no birthdays for you.
No, this isn't a Jehovah's Witness place.
We care about people's birthdays.
We put your name in the bulletin.
We sing happy birthday to you.
I'm not sure I haven't heard anybody sing happy birthday yet here, but you know, maybe
we can just tell people happy birthday and be done with it.
Okay.
But I'm not saying we can't celebrate people's birthdays, but I'm just saying we're not
having like a petting zoo outside with tents set up for your kids and things like that.
Okay.
Anyway, let's move on to the next point.
Breaking one commandment makes you a transgressor of the law.
So I kind of that early on.
So one thing we shouldn't do is respect our persons.
And God took like nine verses to kind of bring that to the forefront.
I mean, he spent some time spent.
Nine verses is a lot.
And then now you have the respecter of persons.
That's verse 10 through 13.
So verse number 10, the Bible says for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all.
Now this is a good scripture that we use out solany to show people that, Hey, you don't
have to be a murderer, but if you lied before, you're still a transgressor of the law.
And so when it says, when you offend at one point, you're guilty of all it basically
is just saying that you are a sinner.
Okay.
It's not saying you you've killed people before.
That's not, that's not what this verse is teaching because look what it says in the
next verse, it says, or he that said, do not commit adultery, said also do not kill.
Now, if thou commit no adultery yet, if thou kill thou would become a transgressor of the
law is just basically making the point that, yeah, you might not be a murderer.
Um, but if you've killed someone or, I mean, if you've committed adultery, then you're
still a transgressor of the law.
You're still a spinner.
And so that's a good verse to use out solany of someone who has a supplementary verse
in the first point of solving.
So now let's look at first John chapter three, verse four.
Now I kind of just want to make sure that I emphasize this a little bit, that sin is
the transgression of God's law.
So it's not a sin to, in my opinion, man's laws, if you break man's laws, that is not
a sin.
Okay.
And you're like, well, it says you're supposed to obey the government.
So look in the federal government, there's so many laws that there's no way you could
ever know exactly how many are we supposed to read every law for every County we drive
through or every place we've ever been for every country we ever go to.
And if you don't have a whole man's laws written down in our hearts, we're sitting.
If we break one of them, that's ridiculous.
The definition of skin is breaking God's laws.
It's transgressing the God's laws.
It's the moral laws that God set up.
What are these state of the Pharisees?
He's like, you know, you're, you're getting rid of God's law so that you can put man's
law in front of it.
You know, talking about washing your hands before you eat something.
Why do your disciples eat with unwashing hands?
And it's just like, you know, and then Jesus just kind of gives it to him, right?
I don't have the verses in here, but you know what I'm talking about where he's just like,
why do you transgress?
Why do you transgress God's laws?
You know, like by saying you don't have to take care or honor your father and mother
as long as you give a little gift on the altar for the Pharisees, then you're good
to go.
And then they clear you all duties to your parents.
You know, he's like, they make void God's law by the traditions of men and then break
God's commandments.
But then you can't eat a piece of grain without washing your hands.
Find that in the Bible.
It's not there.
Is it good practice to wash your hands?
If you have COVID and you're like coughing over your hands, then you're just like giving
someone some grapes that you haven't washed your hands.
It's probably just not loving your neighbor, you know, or you see someone coughing all
over your food and then you just eat it without washing the food or washing your hands.
I mean, yeah.
I mean, there's, you know, there's common sense when it comes to, you know, separating
people that have like a running issue or whatever.
But what I'm trying to say here is man's laws being transgressed are not breaking God's
commandments.
So you have a different opinion.
That's fine.
You're like, well, Romans 13.
It's like, yeah, I understand.
But it still doesn't say that those law, every law that man says is God's commandment.
They're different.
So if I'm going 63 in a 60 mile an hour zone, which I was today, no.
Am I sinning by doing that?
That's ridiculous.
I'm not sinning by doing that.
That's man's law.
And should I, you know, be a good example?
Absolutely.
But like, I'm not going to be punished as a transgressor of God's law because I went
62 and a 60.
Okay.
That's just, you know, people just want to lick the boots of the government all the time
over everything.
Oh, it's a police officer.
Like, come on, man.
I'm not saying we shouldn't respect the government.
Obviously, I believe that.
But I mean, how much do you respect our president?
I mean, he doesn't know where he's at half the time.
I feel bad that that's the situation, but like, you know, obviously there's somebody
that's handling him because he can't really be making the decisions, folks.
You can't really believe that.
I mean, I'll talk to like my liberal Democrat family members and they just like, when I
start saying stuff like that, they're just like, I can tell just by the non-response
that they've been watching MSNBC all day and they're just like, they just feed them
all these lies all day.
Trump, he just died in a gang.
Look at what he did.
It's just like, come on, you know what this is?
It's just like what third world countries do.
And we're just like viewing this dog and pony show.
It's like, it's kind of like survivor politician, you know, or whatever.
And it's just really gotten strange, our politics in this country.
I'm sure that some of the older folks here can remember a time when there was a little
more respectful banter between political opponents.
But now they're just like, you know, trashing each other pretty hard.
And, you know, maybe some of that stuff needs to be said, but I mean, say what you, I'll
say stuff about Trump too.
He's the most prideful person I've ever seen.
I mean, you know, I built the best bond.
I've got the best employees.
You know, when I'm the president, I'm going to do this and this and this.
And he's just like, a lot of stuff he didn't do.
He just didn't do it.
Like we're all being held hostage over the, you know, the China virus or whatever.
Where was he at?
He was still the president there for a while, but he was still just letting all this stuff
happen.
So it's just like, it's all a show folks.
It really is.
And I don't know how I got off on that, but look at Romans 3 19.
Oh yeah.
Because I was talking about man's laws versus God's laws.
So Romans 3 19, the Bible says, now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith
to them that are under the law.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Are you guys already in first John?
I'm sorry.
Go back to first John chapter three.
I never read it.
I'm sorry.
Someone was calling me out over there.
Good job, Alicia.
Thank you.
You keyed me off.
Now I'm going to call your name in front of everyone.
I'm just kidding.
I have first John three, four says whosoever committed sin, transgressive, also the law.
Or sin is the transgression of the law.
Is that real clear?
I think that's really clear.
Is it the law of man or is it the law of God?
When you commit sin, which is something that you do against God, you can do something against
somebody else that's still a commandment of God though.
Don't commit adultery.
That's a sin against man and against God.
So the Bible defines what sin is in first John three, four says that sin is the transgression
of the law for sin is the transgression of law.
I mean, it really makes it a good point there.
So now turn to Romans chapter three, verse 19, Romans chapter three, verse 19.
Romans three, 19, the Bible says, now we know that whatsoever things the law sayeth, it
sayeth unto them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God.
So what is the purpose of the law?
Well, those people that are under the law and like people might not realize that they're
under the law, but they, everybody is under and subject them to the law of God.
And I'll explain that to you here in just a second, but it says that, and you know,
the purpose is that every person's mouth might be stopped because nobody can say that
they're without sin.
So that's the purpose of what James, you know, in James, that's what he's saying.
You know, if you commit one sin, you're guilty as a transgressor of God's law.
It only takes one sin to send you to hell.
Whosoever maketh loveth and maketh a lie, it says in Revelation chapter 22.
So now look at verse 20 there.
It says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
Or by the law is the knowledge of sin.
So the law is our schoolmaster to bring us under Christ, but some people won't get out.
They don't get saved.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, but they're like, I'll take the
F and then they don't get saved.
But the purpose of the law is to show us our transactions so we can see, Hey, I'm sinful.
I'm going to be judged for it.
What do I got to do to be saved?
And that's why, you know, some people get saved, but some people reject that.
You know, there's always those people at school that cut out school and they were skipping
school and we called them what?
Huh?
Skippers?
Yeah.
Also a good restaurant.
But, uh, what?
Malingers.
Okay.
Well, that's before my time, apparently.
We call them losers.
You're a loser.
You know, but I mean, if you were a loser before your state, now you're, you know, winter
chicken dinner, right?
I mean, you're a winner.
You're a chicken eating doctors now, but, uh, it says that, you know, by the laws and
all just of sin.
So, but if you're not saved, then how are you judged in the end?
The Bible says in Revelation that they're, they were judged according to their works.
What works, the works of the law.
So the same thing that they justify themselves and saying, well, I'm saved because I'm a
good person.
I say, I'm saved because I was a school teacher for 30 years.
I'm saved because I was in the military and went to Iraq.
It's like, I've heard those people say that that's why they're saved.
And it's just like, that's so ridiculous.
You know, when they stand before God and say that, I don't even think they'll actually
utter those words, but what's going to happen?
What is it called?
The great white prone judgment.
And those people are going to be cast into outer darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
And obviously we don't want that to happen to people, but they have their choice.
They have everybody.
We believe in free will.
The Bible says whosoever will, we're not calling us here.
We have a choice in the matter.
And some people choose to live out this life here and sin.
The Bible says that men love darkness rather than light because their genes are evil and
they don't want to come to the light because they want to continue in their sin.
And so if you're saved, you're not judged as a transgressor because Jesus covered your
sins with his blood.
Although your whole debt is wiped away.
It's like, you know, someone paid your fine in the courtroom.
Jesus like steps in and is like, nope, not this one.
So we don't get judged like that, but we do get punished on earth for the things that
we do.
God doesn't take it a literal paddle and smack our bottom frame, but he might punish us in
other ways.
So we don't get to get away scot-free with the things that we do in this life, but we
are saved to the uttermost still.
You can be a very sinful Christian.
You're just going to get beat on.
You know, some kids get beat worse than others, don't they, when they're growing up.
Some kids were harder than others to raise.
Brother, I know I keep picking on you, brother Daniel, but some of your kids are probably
easier than other times.
Some you have to smack a lot on the bottom, some of them we don't.
That's just the way it is.
It's the same thing.
Like, I mean, you know, think about God just put that picture for us.
He's our father.
And so when we see, dad should really get it, right?
Because you're the father of the home.
You're the father of those children.
And so you should realize, like, some people need to get it worse than others.
That's the same way.
He's no respecter of persons.
So, yeah.
And so let's look back at James chapter 2, verse 12.
The Bible says, so speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
And this is the second time that James uses this term, the law of liberty.
In the last chapter, he said that you look into the perfect law of liberty.
You know, you look into that mirror, look into that perfect law of liberty.
What is that?
It's the Bible.
It's the spiritual word of God that's looking you back and saying, you got problems.
You need to fix this.
So when you look in the perfect law of liberty, it's going to tell you what you need to fix.
You're like looking in a mirror of God's holy word in your face.
And it's just like, yeah, that's why we need preaching.
That's why we need hard preaching.
That's why we need to read our Bibles and know what the Bible says and what the spirit
sayeth unto the church is what the spirit say says unto the people.
What God, what is God saying to you?
All people say, well, God told me this.
And it's like, well, in an audible voice.
Is that what you're saying?
Because the only audible voice I get is when it's saying it in the book.
That's God's word.
God doesn't speak to us outside of his word.
So if God is talking to you in an audible voice, you just need to go get some medicine
and go check yourself into a hospital or something because, you know, but there's a lot of people
that say that I was, I used to get my haircut by this barber lady and I, and I went to her
because I thought she was a Christian.
I was a little, you know, I was a little stupid at this time, I guess I'll say, but I just,
I wanted to give Christians my money.
You know, if I, if some of there's a Christian hair person that can cut my hair, then cool.
But she just never quit talking about Glenn Beck and, you know, I'll just, which is a
woman by the way, and just all this stuff that was just garbage.
She was like a Pentecostal or something.
And then like, you know, I would just like, I would just try to not, I would try to just
take it and just ignore it or whatever, but I just can't do that.
And then like, you have them cut my hair one day and she says, hold on, hold on a second.
She was like, God just told me, and I was like, hold on a second.
I was like, here's your money.
See you later.
I just, I never went back because she was loony tubes.
Okay.
If you, if you think that God is laudable, like he just, he just got in the middle of
our haircut, you know, punch me right in the haircut.
God says that like, she's like trying to speak in the name of the Lord to me.
That's so wicked.
What's weird.
It's wicked.
It's just not true.
Anyway, so the perfect law of Liberty is so it says, so speak ye and so do as they that
shall be judged by the law of Liberty for he shall have judgment without mercy that
has showed no mercy and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
So what is it saying there?
Well, there's people that wouldn't want to have, didn't want to have mercy.
They're going to, their judgment is going to be without mercy.
See the, the law of Liberty for us is that, you know, we're, you know, we're the spirit
of the Lord is the Bible says there is Liberty.
So, you know, if you've got the Holy Spirit of God and you have the power of the Holy
Spirit to read God's word, it's the law of Liberty to you.
You might be like, well, that's rules.
Well, why don't you get all these rules, man?
You know, why you got, why do you have to have so many rules in the Bible?
It's like, it's the law of Liberty.
You live in those rules and you're going to have a good life.
You're free to serve God the way he wants you to.
That's good.
You know, alternative is to be judged without mercy.
You know, in the final judgment, that is rough.
You don't want that.
We don't want our life.
So journey, you know, Peter and Peter has said, you know, spend your life on this earth.
So journey in fear of the Lord.
Right?
So we're supposed to fear God and spend our life, you know, with that in mind that, you
know, God's not going to be a respecter of persons.
But yes, even you, O Holy One, will get, will get smacked around by God.
He's just like your best kid.
Say they're the one that doesn't have to get spanked as much as the other ones.
But dad will still spank that one kid if he's not a respecter of persons with his kids.
He doesn't have play favorites.
Then he's going to still spank the one, the best behave because they misbehaved that one
time.
Does that make sense?
I hope it does.
Let's move on to the final point here.
And the final point is faith without works is dead.
Now this is one of the most misused portions of scripture in the whole Bible.
And hopefully I do a good job explaining this, but I'm going to do my best here.
So for the next 15, 20 minutes here before we end the service here.
But let's go to James 2 14.
Let's look at James 2 14.
It says, what doth it profit my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not
works, and faith save him?
Now people say, see, you have to have works to be saved.
And they'll twist this verse.
But look at what does the first four words say right there?
What does it say?
It says, what doth it profit?
What good is your faith without having works?
What good is it?
Now it's good for you because we are saved by faith.
So it's good for us to have faith.
Yeah, but if our faith never does anything, you know, because the first commandment is
to love the Lord our God with all our minds, with all our hearts, with all our souls, with
all our strength, right?
And then to love our neighbor as ourselves.
So we are servants of the most high God.
That means what?
Servants usually work, right?
Okay, servants work.
And then we're called priests and kings.
Priests, what do they do in the Old Testament?
Their job was to serve in the tabernacle, to cut up the animals and barbecue or whatever
else, wash their hands, wash their bodies, wash their clothes and all these like things
that were pictures of Christ.
But my point is, is that, you know, if you don't have works, it says can faith save
him?
It's not talking about a spiritual salvation, okay?
It's talking about being able to see, someone be able to see, hey, that person, you know,
is, you know, he says he's saved and he's also doing things that a saved person would
do.
Okay, and we're not judged based upon all the works because like then you can say, well,
the Mormons are saved too.
Because don't they do good works?
I mean, I've had them, I let them unload a U-Haul one time.
I was like, hey, man, I'm tired.
Go ahead and unload it.
There you go.
You want to go to church?
Nope.
Thanks for the free labor though.
I'm not kidding.
Then I sprayed holy water all over the, no, I'm just kidding.
Hey, I was tired, man.
It was just me and my wife.
I was like, yeah, go ahead.
Unload the whole truck, baby.
But anyway, but does that work make them saved?
Were they saved by their works?
But like it's funny, Mormons are the ones that bring these verses up too because they
want to come and use the guile of good works to ensnare people into their cult.
And then they get baptized and they say that baptizing is saving.
Isn't it funny though, that Paul said like, I thank God that I baptized.
None of you saved Christmas and guys and a couple of other ones.
And he said, God didn't call me to baptize, but the priest gospel.
So Paul was preaching.
If he never baptized anybody in baptism saves you, then Paul was doing a pretty bad job.
But as far as I know, if also Paul was the greatest, you know, evangelist slash
missionary that we've ever had on the face of the planet, besides Jesus works.
So, you know that we can't judge things solely based upon people's works,
but I just want you to understand that this verse is very twisted by people.
Now they're going to take it like, can faith save them?
Like as in save their soul.
And it says in verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked.
You got to get the context of what's being said.
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food.
This is our example.
Just like we had the example in the first portion and the second portion.
Here's our example that James is going to give us.
If a brother or sister.
And hold on before I say this, what does the prophet my brethren?
So who's he talking to?
Is he talking to three people?
Yes.
Now verse two, if a brother or sister, what do we call people that are saved in our church?
Brother Cody, brother Rick, sister Mary, sister Sherry, sister Daniel, so on and so forth.
Sister Daniel, sister Daniela.
Okay.
Brother Daniel, I'm sorry.
All right, brother Daniel.
You've been sisterized.
I'm glad you laughed because now I realize I mean,
oh, well, at least I'm good for something.
At least I'm sorry about the Daniel brother.
He's a brother.
He looks like a brother too.
Okay.
Sorry about that.
But the point is, so like if a brother or sister be naked or destitute of daily food,
right?
These are your fellow Christians.
And what are you saying to them?
To part in peace, be warmed and filled.
You know, it's like something a holier than that person would say.
Notwithstanding, they give them not those things which are needful to the body.
They don't have any food.
They're destitute.
They have no clothes.
You know, we don't understand this type of war in this country.
You know, there are places where people don't have clothes.
There are places where they don't have food.
This isn't one of those places.
So nobody should be begging on the side of the road for anything in this country.
We got the richest country in the whole world.
So I don't want to go off on that, but that's another topic for another time.
But anyway, so and it says, what doth it see how it says at the end of verse 16,
what doth it profit?
What it say in verse 14, what doth it profit?
How is this?
How are you helping someone by saying, yeah, I know you don't have any food or clothes.
Be warm and filled.
You know, you're just going to pull it off or whatever.
That's ungodly.
That's not helping them.
What doth it profit?
It doesn't profit them anything.
You're not helping at all.
You're not being, you know, a good Christian in that case.
But it says, even so, so it's like comparing the two.
Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Now, does it say, it says faith, doesn't it?
So is it faith?
Yes.
What does it take to be saved?
Faith, right?
For by grace are you saved through faith, right?
So faith, if it hath not works, is dead.
It doesn't say it's not faith.
It says it's dead.
So you still have faith, but like if there's no works with it,
then that faith is just helping you be saved.
It's not helping anybody else, right?
And it says being alone.
And it says verse 18, yea, a man may say thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.
So what is James saying?
He's saying, well, hey, I want to show people the faith that I have by doing works.
But here's what it doesn't say.
It doesn't say if you don't have works, then you don't have faith.
That doesn't say that, does it?
It just says, he just says, this is how I will show people.
This is, and what's the, this is the example.
This is how you show people that you can show people that you are saved.
Yes, we should do good works.
We're, you know, we're changed in Christ and we're giving,
but we're given a new spiritual body, or not spiritual body,
we're a new spiritual creature.
We're, we're a new in Christ.
We're a new man.
And, you know, we're saved.
We have the spirit of God, but, uh, and then, but we're not saved by doing works.
You didn't have to repent of all your sins or make Jesus the Lord of your life,
or say two Hail Marys and three Our Fathers to get saved.
And, you know, have somebody scoop some water on top of your head.
That's not salvation.
Salvation is by grace are you saved through faith.
Okay.
But how can, is James saying I show my works?
Well, we have lots of examples in the Bible of men that were of faith,
and then they did mighty works and it kind of showed forth the fact that they had that faith.
So it says, thou believes that there is one God, thou doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble.
Here's another highly misused verse.
So like, when you say you believe, that's all it takes to be saved.
Well, the devils believe also.
The devils can't get saved though, folks.
They're destined to hell.
Aren't they?
They're not.
They can't call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
They believe in, you know why they believe in him?
Because he made them and they served them in heaven.
They've seen him.
They've been around him.
You know, and he cast them down.
A third of the angels were cast down with Lucifer.
And so, yeah, they believe, you know, they believe in him.
Remember when Jesus would come upon people in the New Testament and they'd say,
I know who thou art, the son of God.
Don't torment those people all the time.
You know, they're always thinking that they're going to get cast and fall right away.
They're afraid of him.
They're afraid of Jesus, you know?
So yeah, they know who he is and it says, look what it says.
The devils also believe, what does it say?
And tremble.
They're terrified of him.
What's the point?
Well, we should probably feel it.
We haven't seen him and yet we believe we should also tremble.
We should also, you know, want to please him and do good works.
But, you know, so they, you know, they tremble, but they're not saved.
They can't get saved.
Look at what it says in verse 20.
But wilt thou, O vain man, excuse me.
Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
And so here it is.
This is faith without works is dead.
You don't have the works, but you're not really saved.
Is that what it says though?
No, it says faith without works is dead.
If you can't, you know, nobody can tell.
So if you just look at someone, say you just look at Cody.
Can you tell he has faith?
He's looking like he has.
I need a volunteer right now.
Come on up here.
Can you want to come up?
What's your name again?
Aidan.
I should have known that.
I'm sorry.
Aidan, you're dead.
Lay down there.
Don't open your eyes.
Close them.
Don't breathe.
Okay.
Aidan's dead.
All right.
So we're pretending that he's dead.
Okay.
Aidan, you're dead.
Close your eyes.
Well, I guess people die and their eyes are open.
But anyway, you're dead.
Close your eyes.
So here's dad, right?
Who is this?
What's his name?
Aidan.
But he's dead.
Is he still Aidan?
You see the point there?
It's not saying that faith, it's not faith.
It's just saying that that faith is dead because
does Aidan do anything?
Is Aidan low on the grass right now?
He's not.
Is Aidan taking out the trash?
Does he do that at home?
But now he's dead.
He's not doing any works.
Okay.
You can, you can.
All right.
Thank you, Aidan.
Good job.
He was dead and now he's alive.
Come here.
But the point, like you say, I mean, have you,
you've seen animals hit in the road, right?
And you feel bad.
Baby squirrel or whatever.
You're like, I hate that squirrel.
I'm so sad or whatever.
And then it's dead.
And like, like after weeks, it's just like a fur on the road.
There's like nothing left.
They're like birds of pictures, whatever.
Would you walk by that creature and say, that's not a squirrel.
Would you say that?
Is it still a squirrel?
I mean, it looks like, you know, a rug or whatever.
It looks like a moccasin.
You know, maybe you can fix your shoes up with them or something, but it's still a squirrel.
So my point is, is that when it says faith without works is dead,
it's not saying that there's no faith.
It's just saying that that faith is alone because it's not working.
But it doesn't mean if someone has a faith that they're not saved
because faith is what saves you.
So look, false prophets will twist these scriptures.
Don't let them do that to you with these verses.
And you can just have one of your kids pretend like they're dead for a minute.
Just give them an example.
I've actually pointed at a dead squirrel.
That's the reason why I brought up the squirrel because I was just,
I was at this guy's door and he was like a Russian and he didn't,
like, want to believe in his own security.
I was like, look at that squirrel over there.
That squirrel's dead, isn't it?
But you know what it is?
Because it's a squirrel.
You can see that it's like, it's all flattened out, you know?
But that's a good example because it's still a squirrel.
You know, the body without the spirit is still a body.
It's still you.
It's just your spirit isn't there anymore.
Your soul's not there anymore.
But that body will live again.
You know, your soul and your spirit are going to gather
together again with your body if you're saved.
So now it's funny because people like to say, well, let's just go on here.
It says, let's see, what verse am I in?
22?
And it said, oh, okay.
So look at 21, actually.
It says, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered
Isaac his son upon the altar?
They're like, wait a second.
This is confusing.
Well, it showed that he believed and trusted in God.
It was a test from God to see how great his faith was.
So, and then he was about ready to plunge the knife into his own son.
That's how much faith he had.
And so God, you know, there was a test for him.
He was testing him to see if he would obey him.
And he did.
And it says, see as thou how faith wot with his works and by works was faith
made through things.
So what does that mean?
Well, we know we had faith, but if we didn't have the Bible story to go back
to and say, Hey, that's when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son.
We see the great works of Abraham and the things that he did and how he was a
friend of God.
Right.
And it says, and it says that that's true.
But if we didn't have the stories to go along with it, if there was just like a
story about Abraham, it's like, he just didn't do anything.
Why would he be an example in Scripture?
You know what I mean?
Like there's this guy that got saved.
His name was Abraham.
And then I told him to go out in the desert, but he didn't do it.
The end.
It's like Abraham would have had a dead faith, right?
God called him out of Ur of the Chaldees and said, I'm going to take you to this
place called Canaan, and then I'm going to make you your seed as the starters
forever and ever.
And as the sands of the sea and all this other stuff, and, you know, by your faith,
all nations of the earth will be blessed.
So Abraham is called the father of the faithful for a reason, because he had the
faith to believe in God and to believe in his promises.
And so when he trusted those promises, he knew that if he killed Isaac right then
and there, that God was going to raise Isaac from the dead, because that's what
it says in Hebrews chapter number 11.
So look at verse 23, it says,
And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was
impeded unto him for righteousness.
So like just two verses up, it says that he was justified by works.
Well, which one is it?
His faith was made perfect by seeing the works that he did,
but he was already saved.
He wasn't saved because he did works.
Do you understand?
Hopefully this is making sense to you.
So it says Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
In other verses, it says it was counted unto him for righteousness.
What is believing?
It's faith, isn't it?
It's trust.
Abraham trusted God that he would raise up his son.
He trusted God to go into Canaan.
He trusted him for many different things.
And God blessed him tremendously because of who Abraham was.
He chose Abraham for a reason.
It's not like he just was like blindfolded and just like, let me pick some guy in Ur.
Abraham, you know, he knew what Abraham would do.
He knew that he would teach his children after him and that he would be faithful in all of his house.
And he knew the faith that Abraham would have.
It's like, because we believe, you know, just because we know that God knows everything,
it doesn't mean that he chooses every everything that people do.
They make the choice.
He just knows what choice they're going to make.
We're not God.
We don't have that kind of knowledge.
But the Calvinist will say, well, that's predestination, you know?
And I believe in predestination, but I just believe that God knew
I was going to get saved and I was predestined to that salvation.
And it's just like, you know, people, you know, if you're watching a football game and you already
had it recorded and you watched it before, you said, this is a live game and you're showing your
friends, this is a lot, you know, this was a lot to watch.
This guy's going to fumble in two plays and all of a sudden he does.
And you're like, you're controlling the game.
No, you just watched it before and you already saw it happen.
So, you know, Calvinists will try to say that God's controlling every aspect of our lives
and what choices we make.
And that's just not true.
That's a sick God.
I don't believe in that God.
God says whosoever will, right?
But it says it's believing that imputes righteousness.
What does it say in the New Testament?
Same thing.
This is the New Testament, but it's just recounting back from what it said in multiple different
places in Genesis.
Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 16, Genesis chapter 17.
And, you know, multiple times God comes back and reassures him that this is what the prophecy
is.
And it says, and he was called a friend of God.
You see then verse 24, how that by works of man is justified and not by faith only.
And this is in the eyes of man.
We see the works that Abraham did by reading the Bible.
We see the great works that people do that are saved in this life that, you know, we
see those things and we know that they have that faith because of the fact that they're
doing it.
And it's not just someone doing works, though.
And you can't always judge people based upon them doing good works.
You just can't.
So the faith, what they believe is the important part.
And then what they do with that faith helps us see the faith that they have.
But that's not the only way we see it.
So now if your faith, you know, doesn't profit.
Remember the two verses that says, what does it profit?
If your faith doesn't profit anything, then it's dead.
But it's still faith, isn't it?
Okay.
Verse 25, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received
the messengers and sent them out another way.
So it says for as the body without the spirit is dead.
So faith without works is dead also.
So there's the example of the dead body.
The soul, you know, the spirit without the body is dead, but still like the spirit is
the spirit.
Like when you depart from this world, your spirit is going to go back to God.
Isn't that you?
Is the body on the ground you or in the bed or wherever it's at?
Yeah, it's still a body.
It's still a spirit.
So I know I'm driving this point home.
This is really important because people love to twist these scriptures.
So it says for as the body without the spirit is dead, the faith without works is dead.
Also the body without a spirit is dead.
It's the body though, isn't it?
So don't let these bozos and Mormons and just work salvation here.
Try to, you know, use these verses on you to say it's still faith though, isn't it?
Faith is what saves you.
It's not your mouth.
So, you know, when the Bible says that, well turn to Matthew chapter 12, verse 6.
Okay, I'm almost done.
Really almost done.
So here's the other way that people know that we're saved.
So this is, I think, more important to judge it this way
because this is what we do insulting all the time.
We ask people, Hey, are you 100% sure if you died, say you go to heaven?
Yes.
How do you know?
Well, say because I believe in Jesus.
It's a good answer, isn't it?
It's faith.
I have faith in Jesus, what he did for me on the cross.
He died, he was buried, he rose again.
Well, if you believe that, then do you believe that you're
saved for eternity and that you can't lose it?
Yes.
I don't believe you could lose it.
And then how do we judge that person?
We judge that person saved.
Do we know 100% for sure by those answers?
No, but look what it says in Matthew 12, verse 6 says,
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words, thou shalt be justified.
And by thy words, thou shalt be condemned.
I believe in Jesus justified, right?
If you actually do believe in Jesus, you've have, you have that faith.
You've called upon the name of the Lord.
You've asked Jesus to save you.
What are you justified?
What does justified mean?
Just as if I'd never sin.
That's what Jesus counts you as.
You're saved.
But it says, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned.
Faith without works is dead.
You've got to have the word.
You've got to have the faith also.
It's both.
Now you're done.
It's not a combination.
Faith is not works.
Works is not faith.
They're two separate things.
Is it good to have works?
This chapter is telling us don't be, don't have a dead faith.
Have a faith that's alive.
Have a faith that helps people.
When someone needs food and you have the ability to help them, help them.
Someone, you know, someone is not saved and you know that they need to be saved.
Well, help them.
Tell them how to be saved.
At least offer.
We can offer our works as a way for people to judge whether we are saved or not.
But ultimately it's what we believe in our heart, right?
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
If you're saved, give a good answer.
If you're saved, say so.
Don't be ashamed of it.
And what you believe in your heart is going to come out of your mouth.
So when you're about to pray with someone, this is done.
When you're about to pray, someone say, what do you believe it takes to be saved?
So you can, cause people can give you all the right answers.
They can go right through the line.
They pass the test.
Cause I mean, how many tests did you pass at school of something you didn't, you didn't agree with,
but you knew what the answers were, right?
What we're so wanting, this is a good tip to use that you've told them everything.
They, they got all the answers, right?
You're like, Hey, it's ready to, it's pray time.
No, it's not.
It's time for you to ask them what they believe it takes to be saved.
You can say, well, I just believe it's faith alone and you can't lose it.
And then that person's changed their mind.
That person's ready to be saved.
You can pray with that person and lead them, lead them in this prayer.
So number one, don't be a respecter of persons.
Number two, breaking the law is sin.
And number three, faith without works is dead, but it's still faith.
All right.
So we need to understand concepts in here and don't let people trip you up with these
scriptures because they will try to do it.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for the scriptures tonight and Lord that you make things so clear
for us to understand and Lord, we understand there's people out there that twist the Bible.
They don't understand because they don't have the spirit of praying.
You'd help us be able to do battle and earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered.
It was once delivered, help us to keep these things in our mind and maybe even take some
notes about the topic later on so that we can articulate it maybe when we're at the
door or when someone challenges us with faith without works is dead.
And Lord help us to have great faith, but great work along with our faith.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.